Martín Pérez (4-3, 3.02) gets the ball for Atlanta against Sean Manaea (1-1, 5.02) at 4:10 PM ET, a matinee that suddenly carries more weight after Friday night's 7-5 Mets win. Pérez has been the Braves' quiet stabilizer — 5 innings, 3 earned, 5 strikeouts in his last start against Pittsburgh. Manaea's ERA tells you everything about how the early going has gone for him in 2026. The story hanging over this one is Spencer Strider. He walked off in the fourth Friday with right shoulder and elbow soreness — and a fastball that was sitting 88-89 after touching 96 earlier — and is now on the 15-day IL. Strider got tagged for 7 earned in 3 innings before exiting, and Atlanta is now without him and Spencer Schwellenbach in a rotation that was already stretched. The injury ledger is ugly on both sides. Atlanta is also playing without Sean Murphy, Drake Baldwin is rehabbing in Triple-A, and Ronald Acuña Jr. is day-to-day with a hamstring. The Mets are still missing Francisco Lindor (calf, expected back this month per David Stearns), Jorge Polanco, Kodai Senga, and Tyrone Taylor. Yet here are the Mets at 31-38 trying to claw back into the picture while the 45-24 Braves are the ones leaving Friday looking shaken. Atlanta's last 5 reads like a slump nobody wants to talk about — a win, three losses and a tie (yes, a tie) — including dropping a series to the White Sox. The Mets, meanwhile, took two of three from the Cardinals after a brutal 9-2 loss and then jumped on Strider Friday. Walt Weiss's club is still the more talented team on paper. They just have not played like it in 2 weeks. Manaea is the wild card. He has been better in May than the season ERA suggests, and the Braves' lineup without Acuña is more get-throughable than it looks on the back of a baseball card. If Pérez gives Atlanta his usual 5-plus and the bullpen holds, the Braves can flip this series. If not, the Mets are very much alive in it.